Institutional Sponsorship FAQs

No, there are no distance restrictions to become a sponsoring institution. For instance, an Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institute (OPTI) with multiple programs in multiple states could qualify as a sponsoring institution—as long as the institution can demonstrate assumption of ultimate financial and academic responsibility for the programs that it sponsors and be in substantial compliance with other relevant ACGME Institutional Requirements.

No, sponsoring institutions do not need to write the checks, but must demonstrate financial oversight. The sponsoring institution could have multiple payors. A key role of the sponsoring institutions is to make sure that staff members and residents/fellows have resources they need.

A program with pre-accreditation status has submitted an application which is predicated on its relationship to a particular sponsoring institution that has also applied for ACGME accreditation. The designated institutional official (DIO) of that institution has explicitly agreed that the institution is willing and able to provide the necessary institutional support for the program. If the program then chooses to move to another sponsoring institution, it must have similar support from the DIO of that other institution. The program must withdraw its original application, and the DIO of the second institution must then initiate the process for the program to submit a new application, based on its relationship to that second institution. Under other circumstances, such a change would require the program to submit a second new program application fee. In the spirit of the MOU, the ACGME has determined that if it is clear that the same program has submitted a second application due to a change in sponsoring institution (i.e., by AOA program number), payment of a second application fee will not be required.

While each program is scheduled individually, whenever possible, the ACGME will coordinate site visits for two or more programs at a given sponsoring institution. Feasibility will depend on the timing of the receipt of program applications. If multiple applications are received in close temporal proximity, the site visits will be coordinated. If not, the ACGME may still try to coordinate the visits, but cannot guarantee this as other site visits may have been added to the assigned field representative’s schedule for any given week. All site visits for programs with pre-accreditation status will be scheduled as quickly as possible to ensure timely review.